Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Great to see
everybody here tonight. Gonna find our seats. We will go ahead and get started.
Once you found a seat grab a hymnal and for our first song we'll go to song
number 17. Song number 17. One day. 17 singing out together.
Serve you. Such a wonderful place to do it Lord. Thank you for all the souls that
were saved this afternoon and all our efforts here Lord we love you. We just
ask you to bless this church and bless the service and it's just Jesus name we
pray. Amen. All right for our next let's go song number 60. 60. That's Baptist Church if
you did not already get a bulletin. You can lift your hand. There was there's meant
to be our Philippines mission update letter this morning. I think we missed it
I apologize but we do have it for this evening so I was gonna go over that real
quick but our evangelist Duncan Urbanik in the Philippines tries to give us a
monthly update and so he has this you can read through it and you can read
through his prayer requests I'm not gonna read the entire thing but he says
that for the month of March they were able to get 581 salvations which is
honestly incredible especially considering that he'd been traveling and
everything like that so I guess he took it seriously that we're competing with
him and he's going hard but you know what I like that I like that iron
sharpens iron and if we can encourage our evangelists to do more work then
that's we're doing the right thing he has a lot of other information there
they're gonna be starting a church plant service over there and we'll be only
just renting a small space doing just a not all the time services is the
occasional services over there and just kind of see what kind of receptivity we
have to church services and and if people like it and you know when it
comes to church planting I hope people have the right attitude and the right
mindset that in a lot of cases you know church planting is a trial-and-error
process and that not all church plants end up becoming successful not all the
work not all of them are great area and and to me like we should always be
willing to adapt and evolve and change and so when we're doing church planting
we want to pray that it's successful but we want to have that attitude if we're
just always sowing seed and whatever the Lord blesses that ends up coming to
fruition if it doesn't well you know we just want to be able to be willing to
adapt and change not all churches will live forever churches come and go and
you know that's just life it's not necessarily a big deal and we can at
least celebrate whatever work a church accomplishes for whatever time being it
has and so we just need to have the right mentality that church plants
pastors churches these things they change they ebb and flow and and we just
want to be used of God when we have those opportunities and and you know
bless the Lord so we're looking at trying to do some church work over there
we don't know what the Lord is gonna do but you know you're never gonna
accomplish anything if you don't try and so you know we can appreciate the
people that are at least trying and and putting some effort energy into it
because it's harder than it looks and church planting is harder than it looks
pastoring is harder than it looks being evangelist harder than it looks and so
we want to make sure that we're encouraging people and helping them and
coming alongside of them and and doing good and whatever the Lord wills will
allow him to do that for us so just just to give you an update he's got some
prayer requests there on the back and continue to pray for their soul winning
efforts I know our brother James over there has been doing a lot of soul
winning to pray for him and pray for the other people that are over there on the
inside of our bulletin we have announcements about service time so
winning times down below is church stats on the right we have a list of
expecting ladies we have upcoming events kids choir practice it looks like we're
getting really close to this wrapping up and we'll be able to enjoy the fruits
of our labor for Easter so I'm really looking forward to hearing our kids
practicing my wife's been saying that they've been doing a really good job and
I appreciate you parents for participating and being involved in
that spring swap is April 13th Mansfield so winning 19th we have Easter of
services of course the 20th the Scott baby showers on the third there's some
details on the back about that a Mother's Day brunch May 10th and of
course you're welcome to invite your mother or any other ladies in your
family if they would like to attend we just want to make sure you do sign up
for that so that we can anticipate how many people to plan for and then down
below church reminders quiet time is from 2 to 4 every Sunday of course that
first hour so might be bumped right now just because of kids choir but we still
want to try and observe that and respect that no running or rough playing in the
church children shouldn't be on our stage area or in the kitchens area the
children should also not be in our mother baby room areas the fellowship
room is not a play area children should be not using church supplies
unnecessarily make sure we're cleaning up after ourselves water bottles are for
soul-winning parents please watch your kids and then children please obey the
adults and the ushers in our services we also have on the back is the notes
about the baby shower it's for the Scotts and their baby boy which is very
exciting please if you'd like to bring a dessert or side dish let miss Milstead
know you can RSVP to her and then if you'd like to get them a gift they are
registered on Amazon we have several prayer requests down below please be in
prayer for our church family if you have any updates or if you would like to
modify that please just email us and we'd love to update our bulletin on
prayer requests that's all I have as far as evening we're gonna go to our Psalm
119 which is our in our psalm binders psalm 119 if you can get those out psalm
119 psalm 119 let's all sing it out together
after number 17 it's the book of Luke chapter number 17 chapter 17 the Bible
says then said he unto the disciples it is impossible but that offenses will
come but woe unto him through whom they come it were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea than that he
should offend one of these little ones take heed to yourselves if thy brother
trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and if he
trespass against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again
to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him and the Apostles said unto
the Lord increase our faith and the Lord said if he had faith as a grain of
mustard seed ye might say unto this sycamine tree be thou plucked up by the
root and be thou planted in the sea and it should obey you but which of you
having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when
he has come from the field go and sit down to meet and will not rather say
unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thyself and serve me till I
have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink doth he thank
that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I tro not so
likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say
we are unprofitable servants for we have done that which was our duty to do and
it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of
Samaria and Galilee and as he entered into a certain village there met him ten
men that were lepers which stood afar off and they lifted up their voices and
said Jesus master have mercy on us and when he saw them he said unto them go
show yourselves unto the priests and it came to pass that as they went they were
cleansed and one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back and with
the loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet giving him
thanks and he was a Samaritan and Jesus answering said were there not ten
cleansed but where are the nine there are not found that returned to give
glory to God save this stranger and he said unto him arise go thy way thy faith
that made thee whole and when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the
kingdom of God should come he answered them and said the kingdom of God cometh
not with observation neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the
kingdom of God is within you and when he said unto the disciples the days will
come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and ye shall
not see it and they shall say to you see here or see there go not after them
nor follow them for as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under
heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven so shall also the Son of Man be
in his day but first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this
generation and as it was in the days of Noe so shall it be also in the days of
the Son of Man they did eat they drank they married wives they were given in
marriage until the day that Noe entered into the ark and the flood came and
destroyed them all likewise also as it was in the days of Lot they did eat they
drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot
went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them
all even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed in that
day he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house let him not
come down to take it away and he that is in the field let him likewise not return
back remember Lot's wife whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it and
whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it I tell you in that night
there shall be two men in one bed the one shall be taken and the other shall
be left two women shall be grinding together the one shall be taken and the
other left two men shall be in the field the one shall be taken and the other
left and they answered and said unto him where Lord and he said unto them
wheresoever the body is there there will the Eagles be gathered together let's pray dear
heavenly father thank you for steadfast Baptist Church thank you for the souls
that were saved today I ask you to bless evangelist urbanic and the church plant
that he's doing please bless the sermon now fill pastor Shelley with your Holy
Spirit and remove distractions so we can attend to your word Jesus name amen amen
I want to look at an interesting part of scripture here look at verse number seven
the Bible says but which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will
say unto him by and by when he has come from the field go and sit down to meet
and will not rather say in him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird
thyself and serve me till I have eaten and drinking or drunken and afterward
thou shalt eat and drink. Does he think that servant because he did the things
that were commanded them? I tro not. Now here in verse number nine I'm kind of
getting the essence of the idea for my sermon this evening but you see that
this servant is almost expecting to be thanked for the work that he does and
Jesus says clearly I tro not. Now tro is kind of a word that we don't use
normally it just means think so it's like I think not is what he's saying he's
just saying like no he does not deserve a thank you and really what you kind of
see in essence is that Jesus is getting at a particular attitude and I'm kind of
continuing my bad attitudes series again tonight but I want to talk about the
attitude of being entitled of being entitled now I want to caution you okay
first of all you said you liked hard preaching we're gonna test that theory
now I want to say this some of the things I'm gonna say tonight I guarantee
everyone in here will like some of the things I say like you there's gonna be
part of the sermon that you're thinking like yes that person needs to hear that
but there also will most likely be parts that you might think is he talking about
me and I wanted I just want to tell you right now yes I am okay and I want you
to challenge yourself to say hey maybe I might be having an attitude of
entitlement in certain areas of my life and I need to work on that and we all
need to work on it we can all become entitled about certain things and I
think we need to challenge ourselves to not have this attitude but rather have a
humble attitude and not allow entitlement to spoil us and I'll just
be honest with you I feel like I love spoiling people and I'm not saying in
the sense that I want them actually be spoiled I'm just simply saying like
that's just kind of a phrase we use what I'm trying to say is like people that I
really like and people I really care about I like to do a lot of good things
for them I like to you know give them things that they don't necessarily need
do extras for but what can happen as a result of that is because people become
spoiled people become entitled when someone that they're hanging around
with is very generous very kind does a lot of good things for them that they
end up becoming very entitled and because God is so good and because God
does so many good things for us it's very easy for us to be entitled as
Americans because God has blessed our nation in so many ways I think
Americans can become entitled very easily in comparison to other parts of
the world and because we live in Texas we could become very entitled it's almost
like the more prosperous you are the more blessings you've had the more good
things you receive it just makes it easier for you to be entitled if you're
raised where your parents made good money you're well off or you had maybe
just a lot of privileges it could cause you to be entitled if you got to go to
a preppy school you know this is idea of the the preppy school or you went to a
preppy college you can get this entitlement attitude if your parents
gave you a lot of handouts as a kid or you're a trust fund baby you can get to
become very entitled but here's another thing you could have this happen
spiritually maybe someone's greatly blessed you spiritually and giving you
a lot of wonderful things spiritually and then become spiritually entitled or
perhaps you go to a really awesome church that spoils you in a lot of ways
and then you become really entitled from a lot of the things that you've received
so we'll talk about a lot of these concepts here but let's let's dig in
this passage for a moment hopefully you're not too offended yet all right
look at verse 7 again but which of you having a servant plowing or feeding
cattle will say in him by and by when he's come from the field go and sit
down to meet so he's basically saying why would I have a servant and then
basically serve him you know like hey I know you're hungry you go ahead and eat
I'm not gonna eat no no no he's basically saying the servant is there
to serve the master and so in a sense the servant is gonna be the one that
prepares the meal for the master first right that's why he says in verse 8 and
will not rather say in him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thyself and
serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink
so again the servant should be doing his job serving the master this is just what
makes sense verse 9 doth he think that servant because he did the things that
were commanded him I think not or I true not so are you entitled to being thanked
for doing what's expected of you biblically the answer is no you know
like how many people go to work and feel like they should just be thanked by
their boss for just going to work but you made an agreement with them to be
paid that was that was what you agreed to so you are entitled to the paycheck
that you've agreed to but you're not entitled to a thank you for just doing
exactly what you're agreed to be paid to do and you know our culture has
destroyed this today where every restaurant and every gas station and
everything wants a tip and I'm thinking like you just did your job why do I
have to give you a tip because you did your job now again I know that in the
restaurant culture in America we have tipping as a thing and it's just kind of
becoming grain in the culture I'm not gonna fight that too much but it's
almost like they're extending this to every service every business every idea
it's like you got to tip everyone for every reason and I'm thinking I don't
even have to say thank you I paid for my goods you gave me my goods you know
biblically speaking I don't even owe you a thank you now look I think we should
be nice and we should be kind and we should say thank you I almost always say
thank you unless it's like a reprobate or something and then I might just kind
of grab it and move on with my life but at the end of the day I am trying to say
thank you I am trying to be courteous and we should be like that you know we
shouldn't have this attitude of feeling like I deserve a thank you I deserve a
tip for doing my job you know that's the wrong mindset and the wrong attitude and
you know what it's a bad idea for our culture our culture is making a mistake
in this tip over tipping culture over tipping culture basically makes people
feel entitled and so many people today feel very entitled to tips or all kinds
of extras or bonuses this is the wrong attitude if you go to work and you do
your job if you do everything your boss says you are not entitled to a bonus if
your company gives you a Christmas bonus that is not something you're entitled to
that is to their discretion and if you got a Christmas bonus last year and you
do your job this year and they don't give you a Christmas bonus you are not
entitled to the Christmas bonus you are not entitled to any bonus or any extra
or any gift card or anything that if they did extras you should recognize as
an extra and not demand or feel entitled to certain extras I've seen this
ugliness in my family before because there was a period in our life where our
parents were just giving us extra money for for no reason like just all of a
sudden they just gave us gifts on Christmas and then just giant checks
with money and it was like every year we got like a bigger check and and like
obviously human nature everybody's gonna kind of like think like hey I wonder if
that's gonna happen this year right but what would be a bad attitude is to say
hey I deserve this or I'm entitled to this or I'm expecting this and you know
the checks didn't just keep getting bigger okay otherwise I'd be a wealthy
man at this point all right you know they had a lot of extra income for those
few years they blessed us it was super great but you know one year we show up
and it doesn't happen right and then it's like siblings of mine are
complaining about it and it in fact already spent the money that they were
expecting to get and then they were mad at our parents for not giving them that
and I'm thinking like you already get tons of present and I mean our family my
parents spoiled us on Christmas I mean we got more gifts than most families and
then on top of that just get a check with bunch of money I mean that is just
over the top but it's just like you can get this entitlement attitude look being
a child you don't even deserve a gift from your parents your parents are not
obligated to give you any present on your birthday to give you any present on
Christmas to do anything nice for you if they do anything it's because they love
you and it's extra I'm not against holidays and I'm not against extra days
in our calendar but let me tell you something we should never have an
entitled attitude you know if my family decided to never celebrate Father's Day
that's their decision I if I get a Father's Day celebration that's nice I'm
not against celebrating Father's Day but you know what I'm not entitled to that
just like Mother's Day should not be an entitlement now that's a little spicier
okay especially our culture now look I'm not saying marriage advice tip celebrate
Mother's Day okay ladies if your husband doesn't meet your expectations don't
feel entitled and be entitled on Mother's Day okay so we should have both
opinions right we should do good things we should go across the aisle we should
do extras but you know we don't want to then have all these extras in our life
and not realize they're an extra and start becoming entitled and start
thinking this is just obligatory they have to do it because then it kind of
ruins the whole point anyways you know Valentine's Day is obligatory then I feel
like it's less special anyways like it's to me it's almost more special if you
don't always do the exact same thing or have high expectations and so some years
you had a special Valentine's Day some years you don't some years you have and
another if you go all out go for it I'm not gonna fight you but I'm just saying
that it seems a little more healthy if it's not always exactly the same or
always expected because then you don't become spoiled rotten and you have to
just have all these extras to even feel like you're actually spoiled because
what'll happen is you go big on Valentine's Day then they have an
expectation they feel entitled to that so in order to actually feel special you
have to go beyond and then you go beyond that and they have to keep going
beyond and then pretty much you just can't even compete and then it is like
there's no point so we don't want to get this attitude of just feeling like we
deserve things or we're expected to receive things this is a bad attitude
that's why he says in verse 10 so likewise ye when ye shall have done all
those things which are commanded you say we're unprofitable servants we have
done that which is our duty to do so again there could be this attitude of
like I deserve things or you should praise me for doing exactly what I'm
expected to do now go if you would to Matthew 7 and and I want to I want to
talk about this in a marriage context here in a minute but let's play it to a
salvation context first oh I went to church I read my Bible therefore God
owes me eternal life wrong wrong well I did what I was expected to do therefore
God owes me heaven or God is obligated to give me heaven wrong God doesn't owe
us anything you know we're expected to keep his commandments just period but
that doesn't give us eternal life that doesn't give us salvation okay now you
kind of see this little bit of entitlement attitude I believe in Matthew
7 look at verse 21 not everyone that sayeth in me Lord Lord shall enter the
kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven
many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in the name
and in the name have cast out devils and in the name have done many wonderful
works and then will I profess in them I never knew you depart from me that work
iniquity they anticipate that the works that they did should cause them to have
a spot in heaven they feel like they're entitled to be in heaven because of the
things that they did for the Lord you know what you don't get into heaven by
your works salvation is a free gift purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ
and he gives it to us by grace I don't deserve heaven I deserve hell for my
sense but then they think well but look I did all these things I should then get
heaven wrong no one gets to heaven by their works no one gets to heaven by
what they did and no one's entitled to heaven no one's entitled to anything in
this context you know what we see salvation by a free gift it's grace and
at the end of the day you know many people feel like they deserve heaven and
they're gonna go to hell he's gonna say I never knew you depart from me that
work iniquity now that's one application there's another way we could look at
this this entitlement attitude here's one in marriage and and I think that this
is really important is to recognize that in marriage love is much more than just
fulfilling your duty like if you think I'm gonna have a successful marriage as
a husband because I pay the bills I tell my wife what to do and I drag her to a
good church and I go soul-winning that is not something that your wife's gonna
be like extra saying thank you for that's what you're expected to do but
you're just expected to do these things and on the flip side as a wife let's
let's go to the other side this is a little bit spicier if you make the meals
if you take care of the kids and you clean the house did you know you're not
even entitled to a thank you you're expected to do those things so then why
would you sit here and think I deserve extra if I just do my duty if I just do
my job doing your job is not something to be thanked it's what you're expected
to do go to First Timothy chapter 5 I want to go there for a moment same with
your boss at work if you just do your job hey you're not entitled to thank you
now of course we live in a society that's very courteous and very nice I
think it makes sense to say thank you hey if I come home and my wife spend all
day cleaning the house I'll often tell her thank you I'm not trying to say be a
jerk don't say these things what I am seeing is that even if I didn't my wife
is not entitled to a thank you it's expected just like you know I don't pay
the water bill and my wife's like thank you so much I don't pay the gas bill and
she's like oh man that was awesome I like how you paid the gas bill right if I
pay the credit card that we went over on budget hey I don't even get a thank you
for that but you know what how is it that then wise feel like they should be
thanked for every little thing they do that's an entitlement attitude we
shouldn't be entitled to these things and again I'm not sitting here demanding
my wife praise me and thank me for my job because you know what I do my part
she does her part but that's not a marriage that's gonna be that
successful if that's all we do is just do our duties you know we also need to
do things above our duties okay what think have you if you just do your duty
you know you're just expected to do certain things in marriage if you really
want to have a successful marriage you need to go beyond your duties you want
to be a successful Christian you need to go beyond your duties you want to be a
successful employee you need to go beyond your duties okay but at the same time we
also don't want to get this entitlement attitude when we just do what's expected
of us now first Timothy chapter number five gives us the expectations for a
man in marriage and it's making abundantly clear that men are supposed
to be the the provider for the family look at verse number seven and these
things give in charge that they may be blameless but if any provide not for his
own especially for those of his own house he had denied the faith and is
worse than an infidel so if you don't pay your bills the Bible says you're
basically a scumbag I mean I honestly think infidel is a worse word you like
think scumbag is a bad word infidel is worse I mean saying like an unbeliever
it's saying just like someone that's completely rebelled against the faith
of Christianity how could you tell me you're a Christian when you won't even
pay your own bills the Bible says when you won't pay your own bills it's like
you're not even a Christian it's like you have a false religion it's like you
have a bad religion you know you need to be able to pay your own bills and not
only just your bills your wife's bills your children's bills pay for your whole
family's bills that's what the Bible says to be blameless. Men need to pay for
their family and look you talk about getting respect in the household boy
when you pay all the bills you often get a little bit more respect than the guy
that's making his wife go out there and earn a paycheck. If you're gonna put
your wife in a pair of pants and have her go work in the workforce well it's
gonna be a little bit harder for her to come home and respect you. There's this
viral video that's going online I think it got like it just got like millions
and millions of views online and it's some wife complaining about her husband
not doing enough chores around the house and saying not only was she mad that
she had to tell her husband what to do which there's so much to address about
this video but she was saying like if you want to have a successful marriage
you husbands need to just do these chores without asking you need to just
read your wife's mind or whatever and I'm just sitting here thinking like wow
there's just so much wrong with this video okay number one never go online
and complain about your husband it's wicked it's just wicked period okay
number two her husband should just say all right honey you're gonna stay home
and do all the chores and I'll pay all the bills look I do think you're kind of
begging for your wife to get mad at you if you're gonna make her get a job and
then be the wife and the mother and do all the chores but let me tell you
something if your husband made you do that you still just shut your stupid
mouth and do the chores sorry you married him that's not my problem and
you know I can't stand all the women out there just being like amen you go girl
oh yeah that's right oh yeah you tell him what to do you know what that's
wickedness it's wickedness and it's wrong and look I'm not for women working
and having to pay their bills what does the Bible say the man should pay and
again that'll make it easier but look if a woman had a job or a husband had her
doing some kind of work hey that's between them you know the obviously the
Proverbs 31 woman has some side hustles you know and as long as a wife is not
neglecting her duties at home there's technically nothing wrong with her
making money on the side doing whatever she wants okay but at the end of the
day you know you're not really gonna have a successful marriage when you're
putting her out there working for the man and working for you and doing all
your other tasks then you might start becoming a house husband you know you
don't you don't want that it doesn't work well and you know what wives are
not in control of their husbands wives are not telling their husbands what to
do wives are not the ones giving him the chores lists and all this other stuff
you know what that is for the husband to be in charge husbands in charge the wife
is subject under a husband and at the end of the day the husband's supposed to
pay all the bills so he makes all the rules he decides what he's gonna do now
look in a happy healthy marriage I believe that there's gonna always be
crossover okay there's there's technically nothing wrong with a wife
making zero dollars a year if a wife makes literally no income that is
totally fine and it's even biblical for the husband to be the sole provider 100%
all the incomes coming from him okay but if a wife ends up making money you know
what that's in her in my mind coming across the aisle that's her doing some
extra but as a husband I don't think it's right to put expectation on your
wife for her to make money and in the same way though since the husband is
paying all the bills and making all the money you know what it's not right for
the wife then to expect her husband to have to do any of her job you know my
wife doesn't have to do any of my job you know my boss says hey we're behind
on this project I'm not like all right honey get in there get some C sharp
going you know get that sequel server spun and spinning up you know pull an
all-nighter and get that server you know back in shape or something like that you
know my wife's never done my job she doesn't ever have to do my job she's
never expected to do my job I'm not asking her do my job I don't want her
to do my job she doesn't know how to do my job and so you know it's isn't a
little silly though how the opposite most of our society expects it's like
where no the husband has to do all of my job though that's a feminist culture
that we live in and you know what it's an entitlement attitude we live in an
entitlement era where women feel like they can tell their husbands what to do
and do their job for them and tell them hey you need to come and do my job and
my chores and my stuff you know what that's not the right attitude now look
as a loving husband I do come across the aisle often okay I do do a lot of
things for my wife but let it let me make it clear you know it's not because
I'm expected to and you know what I don't want it to cause an entitlement
attitude in any of my family or in my relationship and we need wives to
understand hey if your husband's coming across the aisle that's something to
think hey you paying all the bills I don't technically don't even deserve a
thank you on that you should say thank you but you don't have to all right but
if you come across the aisle that should be a thank you not hey I'm entitled to
this you're entitled to do my job for me you know that's wrong just like if I
needed let's just say my wife did have a job or bringing some extra income you
know I shouldn't get this entitlement attitude towards her and say like oh
yeah well I expect that or that has to come in or you better be making this
extra money we should be looking at his gravy cherry on the top okay and the
same way if I'm doing her stuff and again all of those men have different
skills you know different things we can help with if you come across the aisle
and you're helping her with certain things that should not become an
entitlement area in your marriage now there's some areas that I don't even
give her a chance to be entitled in because like laundry you don't want me
to help all right I don't help I've never helped if anything I'm the
opposite of help okay like I think that the laundry basket is every section of
my house I mean a table a chair over here you know it's just like hey the
clothes can go wherever you know and again I'm not even saying that's right
I'm just saying that I have this bad habit okay of just everything is the
laundry basket for some reason and you know but there are areas that I do help
you know I'm learned how to cook at a young age and I'm not the best but
there's some things that I'm very good at making I enjoy cooking so a lot of
times I'll make dinner you know I kind of have a routine where I make dinner
once a night usually most of the time and you know or at least I take care of
dinner maybe I don't always make it but I'm helping that's not something that I
have to do that's just that's just me coming across the aisle but you know
what could happen is let's say you get in a pattern where you do that fierce
bouse what if you took that away what would that be like well you know what it
would be an entitlement attitude if the person expected that even though you're
doing it and so we don't want to make sure that we're getting this expectation
of like oh this has to happen no no that's coming across the aisle isn't it
you know helping out with the kids helping out with the house all the stuff
that's just their job you know what we don't want to allow people to get the
wrong attitude now of course as a husband and as a father I have to do
things around the house I have to take care of the kids too I have to be a
husband so I'm not saying that the woman's job is all is like always taking
care of the kids and whatever whatever arrangements you have as a married
couple you know whatever is her job duties whatever is your job duties and
then when we come across the aisle we need to recognize it as coming across
the aisle so that we don't get entitled about those things okay and that's you
know gonna be a little bit different for each couple each marriage go if you had
to Luke chapter number six go to Luke chapter number six so I'm just trying to
help you just apply some of these things is there an area in your life where you
feel a little bit entitled about things in your relationship and again some
things are duties hey the Bible says in first Corinthians chapter number seven
there's a part of marriage that's the duty that's not something that's coming
across the aisle that's just you say I do and it's done deal
consents given BAM hey paying the bills that was on day one I do you basically
said I will pay all bills period okay so there's lots of aspects of marriage
that are just the duty you know as the man you're the provider you're the
leader you're the protector you're gonna do a lot of different things as the wife
your subject your submissive you're gonna do things for him that he wants
that's why he got married to you okay and we don't want to put those on the
table as these are nice-to-haves or coming across the aisle coming across
the aisle is doing extras that you're not expected to do and again you know
here it here would be an extra you know I think that wives should make their
husbands lunch because at the end of the day or make them dinner or make them
whatever right what would be an extra what if she writes a little love note
and slips it in the lunchbox well that's not a duty that's just an extra right
and those type of things is where you build a relationship you know you don't
build a relationship on just a checklist of hey I showed up and I paid the bills
love me you know how you get your wife to love you spend time to her talk nice
to her hang out with her take her on romantic dates buy her jewelry you know
these are the things that you know nice to have is this she entitled to jewelry
no but at the end of the day it's nice when you do things that are nice for her
she entitled to romantic getaways no but that would be a nice thing to do every
once in a while so again we want to make sure that we're balancing these these
items getting them in the right place tithing duty free will offering bonus
okay so when it comes to church you come into church obligatory don't think you
don't deserve a thank you to show up at church you don't deserve a thank you for
going so winning that's obligatory that's your duty that's your reasonable
service you're expected to do that okay so if you think that you deserve
everyone in here to thank you for that you have the wrong attitude okay you're
expected to serve God and so don't think that that is something to be praised or
for us to go around and clap for you or something Luke chapter 6 look at verse
31 and as he would that men should do to you do you also to them likewise for if
you love them which love you what thank have you for sinners also love those
that love them and if you do good to them which do good to you what thank have
you for sinners also do even the same you do good unto people expecting the
same in return it's not even worth worthy of being thanked you know hey
you're just nice to people that are nice to you there's nothing even special
about that but then how many people feel like they're entitled to this oh well I
invited someone over so now I am entitled to them being nice to me or
doing good no no wrong attitude you're even doing it for the wrong purpose go
over to 1st Corinthians 6 let's just go to a lot of verses here and then I'm
gonna make some more application all right people get a very wrong attitude
about life 1st Corinthians number 6 look at the last part of this verse 19
what know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you which of ye which ye have of God and you're not your own for your bought
with the price therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit which are
God's you know I have a duty just to serve God because he bought me just like
you know if a husband pays for you to marry him because that's kind of the
picture you know they pay this dowry in the Old Testament even today's in a lot
of ways when you get married stuff to pay for a lot of things you're agreeing
to pay for them for the rest of your life so in a sense you're kind of like
bought in a sense and it's the same picture of the husband and wife is kind
of like Christ and the church the church was bought and paid for by Jesus Christ
he laid down his life for them husbands are laying down their lives for their
wives in a sense and basically agreeing to take care of them and in a sense
when you're bought and paid for you're expected to then be their servant you're
expected to then be you know good unto them and do right unto them and look
Christ has purchased us so we are expected to serve him he's not
obligated to say thank you to us for just doing the things that he expects
us to do go to Romans chapter number 12 let's go to another verse on this
Romans chapter number 12 we are to serve God because we're expected but you can go
above what's expected of you you can go beyond just what's obligatory okay Romans
chapter number 12 look at verse 1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the
mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable
in the God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this
world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God so we're supposed to be a
quote living sacrifice now you know the sacrifice in the Old Testament you would
go you would take some kind of an animal a lamb if you were kind of poor it might
be a bird a turtle dove or something that you would offer and you do this on
somewhat regular basis you would offer some some sacrifices of the Lord now it
wasn't your whole life it wasn't all of your income what was it it was the tithe
in a sense and in many cases a trespass or a sin offering so you know just kind
of out of a just a basic expectation God basically just expects us to just go to
church pay our tithes and not sin and that's kind of if you look at the
sacrificial system that's basically what it was you would go to church you would
pay your tithe you would pay you know trespass offerings or whatever and again
in the New Testament praise God we don't pay money for that we just you know
it's not the Catholic Church we're not paying indulgences here but you should
at least in the New Testament if you sin say God I'm sorry and try to not sin
look this is the basic Christian life doing those things is not some extra
special thing and you shouldn't act like God's over here just trying to just
extra bless you and give you these special thank yous just because you're
trying to not sin you go to church and pay your tithes there's a lot more to
loving God serving God than just doing the reasonable service and you shouldn't
have this entitlement attitude like well I show up at church pay my tithes and
I'm trying not to sin therefore God just owes me all this stuff God doesn't owe
you squat you were bought with a price you just you're just expected to do
these things okay and yet a lot of people they almost feel like God's just
gonna give them all of this extra for just doing what's reasonable good if we
would to James chapter before go to James chapter four and they have an
entitlement attitude here's it here's it just one aspect that we could all get
entitled to just deserving another day of life we're not even we're not even
promised another day of life we're not guaranteed another day of life you know
the Bible tells us to redeem the days because the days are evil redeeming the
time because the days are evil and we need to take advantage of the the time
that God has given us because we have no idea how much time we get none of us
know and some people have this entitlement attitude about their life
like I'm entitled to 70 years of life or 80 years of life or however much you
don't know that no one here deserves 70 years no one here deserves 80 years of
life in fact you know we deserve death in hell that's what we deserve look at
James chapter number four towards the end of this he says in verse 13 go to
now you that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gained whereas you know not what shall
be on the morrow for what is your life it is even a vapor that appeared for a
little time and then vanished the way for that you ought to say if the Lord
will we shall do that we shall live and do this or that but now you rejoice in
your boasting's all such rejoicing is evil do not presume anything in the
future don't feel entitled about anything in the future don't feel like
God owes you something look you are the one that was in debt and he paid your
debt and I see this entitlement attitude creeping into the youth of America
especially where they feel like they're entitled to not just live not just have
a long life everything they feel like they're entitled to get a high-paying
job like the youth today just thinks like you know what I just deserve a
high-paying job you know I put in my dues I went to college and played beer
pong for four years where's my high-paying job it's like that's not how
the real world works honey you know you need to actually have some skills to
offer to the marketplace because we still live in a capitalist society praise
God where people are actually trying to make money and you know how they make
money people work they don't make money by you just showing up and then feeling
entitled to a paycheck you know people go to work today even feeling entitled to
a paycheck when they're not even producing for the company especially
people that start out most people that start out at a company are probably a
loss for the company they're actually training investing a lot of money into
the individual hoping they'll become productive in the long run or just
frankly they just don't want to do the job themselves or they can't do the job
themselves so they have to just farm it out at the lowest cost they can but
you're not even actually productive for the company you're just basically giving
time back to the management and so people then they think they're entitled
to a paycheck but you know what this entitlement attitude does is it causes
you get replaced pretty soon replaced by other workers or replaced by technology
because if you're not actually adding to the company you work for if you're not
bringing value to the company they'll try to find a way to replace you and let
me tell you something AI is coming for jobs I work in the software industry and
I know how AI is working and I know how fast it's growing and boy companies want
to get rid of you you entitled brats there's a lot of entitled brats today
that think that they're special and boy I'm telling you AI can do your job
better faster and complains a lot less boy it was a shock to me the other day
I mean this was a while back but I drove through Panda Express and they had an AI
bot take my order who's who's had this okay look everything I said the AI got
right now I'm sure it can make mistakes who would say they did it right - yeah I
mean for the most part they did pretty good and I mean like let's think who
we're competing against a meth junkie that just got out of prison that usually
gets it wrong like their competition was so low already that man you know they
kind of nailed it this is just the early infant stages they can get to a point
where virtually all the fast food restaurants could be unmanned or maybe
they just have one person on site that's just a security guard more or less not
even someone that's actually manning any of the food stations especially the
garbage food they're making I mean it's just like you would think it'd be pretty
easy to just have machines do a lot of these things have one maintenance worker
and have one security guard and look the maintenance worker guy he's gonna have
to be smart because he's gonna have to know how to program AI so all those
junkies are gone all those drug addicts they're completely replaced and a lot
of these people have an entitled attitude they feel like they're entitled
to paychecks they're entitled to the government to take care of them there's
just an entitlement attitude that's just decaying our youth today you know rather
you should do instead of thinking like where's my high-paying job is you should
think how can I be a highly skilled employee that someone needs and then
when you actually work for the company and you do everything you're expected to
do you're not even thinking you should get a bonus or time off or whatever I
mean like we don't even deserve paid time off but isn't it weird I mean
companies give us paid time off there's just so many things that our companies
do for us and we live in America and we just get this entitled attitude I mean
how much PTO do you think the children of Israel got in the wilderness or in
Egypt again how many times do they were like hey Pharaoh I need a little bit of
PTO hey Pharaoh where's the HR department you know it's just like he
needs a little a few more whips like get him you know that's the HR department
anytime you complain that's who and then people don't complain but isn't it just
people just have this attitude about everything go to Matthew 20 let's look
at two more verses and then I'm give you a little bit more I'll finish all the
applications I wanted to make and and look young people also I feel like
there's this also this attitude I've seen young single guys feel like they're
entitled to a wife like there should just there should just be a woman that's
just ready to just line up for me to marry like because I'm so awesome I'm
Mr. Wonderful I've arrived where are all the ladies that are ready to just for me
to come rescue them you know and look this is a bad attitude it's a bad
attitude to feel like you're entitled to anything and you know you just existing
as a man you don't deserve a wife you know where where's the romance in that
anyways like you know we should bring back some of the chivalry today you know
rescue the princess from the dragon or something you know just label the dragon
feminism and go rescue her from it or something you know but but don't think
that you're gonna just find this perfect little princess just sitting over here
just mind your own business and then you walked by and she's just like marry me
you know cuz you walked by or something like that you know young people they
feel like they're entitled to a house you were not entitled to a house you're
not entitled to a new truck you're not entitled to anything and you know you
spoiled rotten American you stop thinking that you just deserve all these
things and just put your head down and work hard and allow God to bless you and
whatever God gives you you know what you should thank him for it instead of
sitting here thinking like where's my extras when did God say you're gonna get
a truck you're gonna get a car he didn't even promise you a wife you have to go
ahead and find one and then if you get one you've obtained favor of the Lord
that's a that's a blessing of the Lord and you know it's a blessing for keeping
his commandments I think the more you keep his commandments hey if you are
strong you're smart if you make good money you're probably more likely for
God to give you that favor to get a wife but if you're lazy a jerk you don't have
any money you have nowhere to live you know God may not give you the favor give
a wife it applies to everything in life you know I thought about this a lot as
pastors it's like hey pastors have smaller churches or younger churches it's
like instead of worrying about like why is God not giving me a big church it's
like how are you doing with the small church that you have and if you're not
a good shepherd with what you do have why would God want to give you more if
you're not a good steward of what you do have why would God want to give you
more and if you know what you're not a good leader why would God want to give
you a wife to lead around if you're not gonna be someone that God wants to
entrust with a wife or entrust with a sister or entrust with children you know
if you if you look down on women if you look down on children why would God want
to give you them to entrust under their safety you know we should be we should
be people that actually have great love and affection and care for people hey
you want to be a pastor well why don't you love on people and do good to people
when you're not a pastor and then maybe God will say like wow I really like how
this guy treats people maybe he's someone that could lead them or guide
them hey you want to be successful in the business world you know do good with
your masters goods you know be a good steward of his goods so that God will
bless you with your own and we should stop having this just entitlement that's
just spoiling all of us about everything look at Matthew chapter 20 verse number
one for the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder which went
out early in the morning to hire laborers and his vineyard and when he
had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day he sent them in his vineyard now
I'm not gonna read the whole parable for sake of time but you have this parable a
guy is agreeing with people to work in his his yard he's just saying hey I'll
give you a penny and they say great so they're gonna do the work well in the
story he hires people over time so some people work all day some people work a
half day some people work an hour and then when there's paying them the guy
that only worked an hour he starts with him first and he gives them a whole
penny now the guys that work the whole day they start thinking in their mind
well if they got if they worked an hour and got a penny and I worked the whole
day I should get more than the penny that he agreed with me but then he ends
up just giving them a penny and then they get mad why entitled they got
entitled didn't they now let's let's skip to that point it says in verse
number 12 saying let's look at verse 10 but when the first came they supposed
that they should have received more and they likewise received every man a penny
that suppose that they should have remorse that's entitlement creeping up
into their brain okay and it says and when they had received it they murmured
against the goodman of the house how did the merman do them any bad hey you work
in my yard I'll give you a penny they worked in the yard they got the penny
how was he bad he gave them a job he gave them money but they supposed it
should have gotten more and how many people go to jobs and they do their job
and they don't get a bonus or they don't get some extra and then they get mad at
their boss for giving them exactly what they were looking for that's a bad
attitude we should be grateful for the thing that we did get hey if you agree
you get it you should accept that you don't need to get this entitlement
attitude or allow it to creep in then he said in verse 13 but he answered one of
them and said friend I do thee no wrong did us not thou agree with me for a
penny take that thine is and go thy way I will give unto this last even as unto
thee is it not lawful for me to do what I will of mine own is thine eye evil
because I am good now again he defends himself he says how am I bad I'm
actually good you're the bad guy let's let's apply this to a lot of situations
okay go over to first some of these six - we'll get there in a minute if you come
to this church and you get a lot of extras coming to this church you know
what that is extras you know that you know that church there is nothing in
the Bible that says that I am supposed to give you just free material to hand
out for soul winning there's nothing there's nothing in the Bible requiring
me to have free waters for you to go out soul winning there's nothing in the
Bible requiring us to give out free ice cream every single Wednesday night to
your kids for memorizing the Bible they should just memorize the Bible but then
it's like that's not the ice cream that I wanted you brat like Evian water
where's the Evian water at the store well you know at at faithful word they
have this one DVD can what can we get those look I had someone complain that
we weren't handing out every single DVD that was sold on framing in the world
they were like hey why don't we buy these other DVDs because I don't like
the ones you give us to hand out I want these ones and I'm like well you know
what the person that has the rights to those wants me to pay $8 a DVD to hand
them out and I'm just not that interested in taking $8 of the church
money per DVD to hand out to a bunch of people in the ghetto that'll never watch
it and probably throw it around like a Chinese star or something right I mean
like why would I then want to do that like that doesn't even make sense but
people just get this super over-the-top entitled attitude or they say like hey
why don't you just pay for everyone to have a free breakfast for every soul
winning time and then I say no and then they get mad at me and then act like
I'm bad because I don't want to do that but you know what your eye is evil and
I'm good because I'm still even giving you free things for the soul winning
time that you even have to do I mean what in the world is wrong with you
there's just people that just get this entitlement attitude where they feel
like they're expected all these extras we have a soul winning marathon and we
show up and it's like free food free sandwiches free beverages free cokes
free powerades free invites free everything where's the juice for my kid
at the store that's where it's at you know what I didn't even say that you
know what I said I just said hey sorry I didn't think about that do you want me
to go get you one but maybe that was the wrong attitude you know the wrong
attitude is like where where is the juice for my kid though it wasn't even
like hey did you have juice it was just like where is the juice for my kid that
is such a brat attitude and you know what the new IFB is great but because we
do so many good things and so many free things and so many nice things it causes
people to get entitled it causes people to have the wrong attitude and start
thinking like hey this is expected no it's extra it's not expected it's extra
and you know you go to a really nice church where they give you all kinds of
free meals and free extras and free things don't allow it to go to your head
don't allow I mean you know so much I mean we just like free men's conferences
just free conferences all kinds of just specials and extras and look I never
want to take that away I don't want to stop doing that and a lot of people are
appreciative okay but at the same time can we please not get entitled about
that stuff because you know when you start getting entitled it makes people
want to take things away it doesn't make them want to do more it makes them want
to do less it makes them get upset about this and say why is thine eye evil
because I am good first to me the chapter number six the Bible brings up
when we can be upset about things at what level can we complain well there's
not a lot that we can complain about says in verse 6 but godliness with
contentment is great gain if we brought nothing in this world and is certain we
can carry nothing out having food and raiment let us be there with content
hey what's what's what can I say God I'm not please give me this now food and
clothing everything else we start getting entitled about don't we super
nice housing super nice clothing vehicles jobs having awesome churches I
mean you know how many people would just die to have an old IFB church in their
area there's a lot of people in the world today that would love to have a
non King James only Baptist Church in their area let alone an old IFB church
let alone a new IFB church let alone a new IFB church filled with hundreds of
people hey there's like dozens of new I'd be churches not all of them have a
church this big with their own building with lots of cool people in it let me
tell you something this church is super awesome and you know what a church is
it's people don't ever get confused about the word church when I'm talking
about church I'm talking about people it is hard to find hundreds of people that
are like this that are this cool this generous this nice and you know you
could come to here and you could start feeling entitled like I'm entitled to
awesome friends no you're not no one is obligated to be your friend no one is
obligated to be nice to you no one is obligated to take your wife out on coffee
dates no one is obligated like no one is allowed to come to you and say hey you
and you you and your wife need to take my family out that's Adam Fanon I had a
couple tell me that Adam Fanon said you know what churches are supposed to take
their pastor or their leader out to dinner and he's like I want to go here
there's other people they say hey you ladies you're required anytime y'all
hang out to invite me I'm required to get to hang out with y'all too what
planet are you living on and look and then and then people say like no one
wants to be my wife's friend well when you're demanding people to be her friend
they don't want to be your friend look I have a lot of friends in here but it's
not because I demanded them I'm sure they would feel awkward if I just said
Diego you have to be my friend tonight he would be like weirded out but if I
said like hey Diego you want to hang out you want to do something fun he might
be a little bit more enticed but he's gonna feel a little awkward when it's
like you're hanging out with me tonight you have no other option you know that's
weird it's weird to demand things of other people and to feel entitled about
stuff you know we should never have that attitude you over to Proverbs 18 hey no
matter how long you've been at this church let me tell you something you I
don't owe you anything if you've been a member for a decade here you're not more
special than the new members and you don't deserve things that they that they
don't deserve or whatever there's not like this special privilege hey you do a
lot of things at this church you're in service here I don't owe you a thank you
because you know what you're doing it for God and if you think that I owe you
a thank you for you serving God you have the wrong attitude you're not even doing
it for God at that point don't think it don't think you're doing anything here
for me don't try to get brownie points for me because I don't really give you
anything in return usually like it is not so there's not a token like the
pastor Shelley token like you you put in the machine and you're gonna get
something out of it you're just it I'm I'm just like Vegas baby you just keep
putting the money in and it's just like nothing you just keep pulling like
there's there's nothing there I'm just saying like sweet you know like okay hey
if you want to keep putting tokens in the machine I'm fine but if you think
you're gonna hit 777 you've you're wrong okay there's no like hidden door like oh
you gave enough money to me here's pastor Shelley's special open door or
hey now you get to be his friend or something like that you know people
that try to buy friendships I'm usually kind of leery of I'm kind of like afraid
like why or you know if somebody wants to do something special I'm kind of
thinking like I don't know you know is this person trying to be is a flatterer
or like what's going on you know friendships should be organic they
should be normal they should be natural you work together you know I want to be
friends with people that I work together on stuff you know that's that's usually
how we become friends with people is you work on things with people you do
things together that's how you become friends not just this like hey I give a
bunch of money or you just you're supposed to be my friend because I do
these things you know that's just not how it works and as pastor you know I'm
not obligated to be anybody's friend either you you do not get to be my
friend just because you show up at this church okay you want to be my friend be
friendly to me and I'll be friendly to you and maybe we'll blossom into the
greatest friendship ever you know I'm not saying I can't be friends with you
I'm not saying I won't be friends with you but let me tell you something it's
not expected no one is entitled to be my wife's friend no one's entitled to be my
children's friend nobody's entitled to be anybody in here's friend nobody's
entitled to here to get any extra special privileges you know we need to
make sure that we're careful about our attitude and about church here's here's
some other you know things that we do at our church we do a lot of cool stuff I
mean look at our bulletin we have all these service times you know we have a
Spanish service no one is entitled to serve in that Spanish service if you get
to serve into it it's a blessing and an opportunity for you and if you start
thinking like well of course I'm the one I get to do this you know what that'll
be taken away like this no one's entitled to play in our music department
no one's entitled to be a song leader no one's entitled to do anything you're
also not entitled to get to preach a sermon when I'm not here you know you
could give this attitude like well I've been here for a while or I I've always
preached so then I get to preach no hey you know in fact many times I evaluate
how people do in the preaching class to determine who I want to preach next and
they may even happen once every blue moon but you know what if you do a good
job in that you might get an opportunity but someone that's entitled boy I'd love
to strip that away from you I'd love to take that away we have all kinds of
soul-winning times no one is entitled to lead a soul-winning time that is a
special opportunity to get to do that okay no one is entitled to be an
evangelist or go do missions work for the church hey no one no one's entitled
to get to do any of these things events here's another one how about quiet time
you know quiet time is an extra you know our church is kind of far away for a lot
of people so it's difficult for them to come here and then go back to their
house and again it's hard when you have little kids because they just have to
nap they're gonna nap somewhere and if they don't they're cranky it's difficult
so just out of just just trying to be nice our church has offered a quiet time
option to say hey some parents they kind of need a space where their kids
just lay down and sleep so we wanted to offer that but you know the church is
not obligated to offer the sanctuary for anybody for any reason you know we do
that so that some people could enjoy that little bit of time it can be quiet
but if everybody comes in here and just loud the kids are just running around
they're screaming they're getting food they're breaking stuff then no one gets
to enjoy it well you know what I get I'm a member here so I just get to do this
no you don't you know I've never been to a church where I get to hang out in the
sanctuary after the service in fact if you hang out a little too long they'll
come by and say you have to leave we don't even kick y'all out early enough I
mean some of y'all are staying here for a long time and I'm like I'm not trying
to stop you but I'm just saying like you're not entitled to get to just hang
out at the church building for all hours I heard of a church there was a pastor
that was confiding in me he said that there was this one church member that
demanded him he said I want the sanctuary to be open whenever I want
because I feel like I get to go pray there whenever I want because the Bible
says that it's a it's a should be a house of prayer so therefore at any hour
at any time they're supposed to open up the church building allow this guy to
come in the sanctuary to pray let me tell you what I would have said no
you're weird what does the Bible say how about go in your closet and pray there's
your special that's your special place okay and look it's not like praying here
in this this vicinity is gonna somehow make your prayers more special or
something you know church is again not the building it's the people yeah when
we come together as a group and we pray as a group that's special that's a
special prayer at church but you know what you being in this building by
yourself and praying is no more or less special than in your closet just praying
to God in your heart it's not any more special than praying in the water
closet for all you Canadians okay I don't know if you know what that is but
there's nothing more special about where you're at physically okay and we
shouldn't get this entitlement attitude like well I've been a member here I pay
tithes therefore I get to use the church however and whenever I want wrong nope
you're not entitled to that you don't get to just dictate what to do and you
know what it's like you try to offer something nice like quiet time or
something but if everybody just ruins it we could take that away and just say
hey at 1205 everybody's out of the building as soon as the last song is we
just usher everybody out but you know that wouldn't be fun that wouldn't be
nice people wouldn't like that you know if you just abuse things well then they
get taken away you don't want to you don't want to treat the church with care
we'll take it away you want to take church material nicely we'll put it in
the glass cases isn't that what companies are doing now because people
are just stealing and doing trash they have to put everything behind a locked
cage because they're afraid of how you treat it like is that is that what really
church has to come down to we have to put everything in a locked cage because
people just can't be respectful of things I mean are you just entitled to
everything and just acting however you want I mean is the house of God have no
reverence anymore that you just trash it I mean how would you feel people if I
came to your house and I just spilled coffee all over your sofa if I just let
my kids just run around your kitchen getting into anything and everything
they want taking anything and everything they want spilling anything and
everything that they want yelling and screaming and I won't say anything to
them how would you feel if I came to your house during your nap time and
allow my kids just run around and scream and don't let your kids get a nap how
would you feel if I just come around and bother you at your work or your place of
business or when your wife is trying to get something I mean how disrespectful
and how entitled you have to be to act like that I love hard preaching well do
you you know we need to sometimes look at ourselves and say hey what if
everybody was like me that'd be a good thing would that be a bad thing are we
treating things with respect if you treat the church worse than your house
you're causing you're just you're just problem you should be better behaved at
the house of God than you are in your own house and if you're so well if
you're not very well behaved at church maybe you just need to fix your life we
need to be well behaved we need to be respectful of things and look I'm the
type of person that I love to spoil people rotten but please please you know
can we just we don't have to become spoiled you know my parents spoiled me
but I didn't allow that to get to me and a lot of ways but I could have God
spoils me in a lot of ways I don't have to let it get to me we need to make sure
that we're humbling ourselves so that God doesn't have to humble us we need to
humble ourselves so our parents don't humble us you know my my siblings would
would always criticize me and my parents because they would say oh John gets to
do whatever he wants John gets nice cars and and John gets to have extra money
and John gets to do whatever you know my parents would say to me this is my
parents would say you know what it doesn't matter if we ever watch you or
pay attention you always just do what's right anyways you're making meals for us
you never get in trouble you're not wrecking the car you're not going out
and getting drunk you're not committing crimes and then it's like hey I wonder
why one child is getting more privileges than the other child it's like hey it's
not fair well you know it's also not fair to commit crimes and trash the car
that your parents gave you and cause all these issues and problems at home you
know maybe there's a reason why you get to do whatever you want think about it
your job many times some employees they get to do whatever they want and other
employees they're micromanaged to death you want to know why because the one
that's left alone he just does right every time and the guy when he's
micromanaged can't even do his job right hey you kids at home you want your
parents to get off your back be a good kid you don't want your parents
constantly on your case constantly disciplining you constantly giving you
rules? Well, behave. And you know what? The same applies to church. Hey, you want to have less rules
at church? How about need less rules? I mean, doesn't that just make sense? Whereas it's like,
hey, we want, we want signs on everything. We want just, just constant rules and enforcement,
bring out the whip and everything. It's just like, you know, if you act like children, you get treated
like children. If you act like responsible adults, like Joseph, his, his boss doesn't even know what's
going on. And you know that's a great way to handle ourselves in church. That's a great testimony.
Wouldn't it be nice a great testimony when people visit the church they're like, "Man everybody's so
mature, everybody's really respectful, they take care of their stuff, they don't seem entitled."
As opposed to coming to a place where everybody's disrespectful, trashy, they feel like they deserve
everything, they're asking for all these extras that no one even promised them whatsoever. You
know that's a bad testimony. And then you know you you you act like that, well then God will put you
at an old i-b church where you have to pay for everything. I mean think about it, you get to go
to a church where you get all these extras and all these nice things, you complain about it enough,
you rail about it enough, God will put you at a church where he'll never give you a nice thing
again. Careful what you want. Proverbs 18, Ligurus 12, "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty
and before honor is humility." We need to not be entitled, we need to have humility in our lives.
And you know what is the opposite of entitlement? Humility. I don't deserve these things,
don't have this attitude if you deserve things, say I don't deserve these things.
And when you get extras in your life, be thankful to the person that gives you the extras.
Your boss gives you a bonus at work, thank you. Gives you extra day off, thank you. Hey your
husband does something for you ladies that is not part of his job, say thank you. Hey your wives do
something that's not part of their job, you say thank you. Hey you get stuff at church that's not
just found explicitly in the Bible, you should have an appreciative attitude and not getting an
entitlement attitude. And like if we behave ourselves well and we don't have an entitlement
attitude and we're humble, what does God give us? Honor. Hey we want to have honor from God,
we want God to look at our church and to lift us up and to praise us. We better be humble about
what we have and be thanking God for what we have. And if we don't, what will happen? Destruction.
I don't want to be destroyed as a church, I want God to honor us as a church, but we have to first
humble ourselves and be appreciative of what God's given us and be content with what we have
and not start becoming entitled and thinking that God owes us a favor or something or owes
us something special. We need to say, "Hey, we're here to serve you and we're going to not only do
our duty, we're going to go above and beyond, but at the end of the day, I'm not expecting God to
just give me all these things. I'm not entitled to these things. You know what? I'm just going to
humbly serve and let the chips fall where they may." Close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father,
so much for what you've given us. Thank you for your free gift of salvation. And we understand
that we've been bought with a hefty price. I pray that we would not only just do our duty,
but be willing to go above and beyond. That we would treat the house of God with respect.
That we would treat the institution of marriage with respect. We treat our spouse with respect.
We treat our employers with respect. And I pray that we would have a humble attitude.
We wouldn't just expect things. That we would try our best to just do what's right and expect
nothing in return. And I pray that you would help us to humble ourselves. I pray that there's
something that we need to fix. That we'd be willing to fix it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
All right. In closing, let's go to song number 449. Song number 449.